Dyson vs Miele vacuum cleaner

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twinniefan

twinniefan

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 13, 2007
Messages
718
Location
Sydney Australia
Hi everyone, the Hoover Aura blew up on me last weekend while doing our large yearly spring clean of the house so I have been looking for a new vacuum cleaner.
I am interested in the Dyson D.C.29 or the Miele S5211.
Can't quite make up my mind wether to go with the bagless Dyson or the bagged Miele.
Any thoughts from anyone who may own either of these or indeed own a Miele or Dyson in general, would be interested in your experiences.
Thanking you in advance.
Steve.
P.S.we only have short pile carpet which mainly gets surface dirt on it(or at least I hope),and pet hair is not a real problem as the dogs are only inside on the odd occasion and mainly sit in the laundry which is a flat concrete floor anyway.
 
Miele

Are there any doubt, go for the Miele. There is a Video on youtube where there is a shootout between a Miele and Dyson go and look it up and you will know why we say Miele. BTW I own two Miele's very hardworking machine.

Hope this helps

cheers
 
Not an easy choice

I have been using Miele cleaners as daily drivers for 20 years now, first a reasonably BOL model and, since 2007 the TOL cannister (at the time)- Revolution 5000. The performance of the miele is good although I have always found the hose too short, I hate the huge hand grip (it has remote control) and the wand has always seemed to big and heavy for high cleaning like around cornices etc. It was one of the few cannister cleaners available here with a power nozzle which I prefer.

Until recently I have not owned a Dyson cleaner although I have it from authority I respect that they are good cleaners. Just recently I bought a Dyson DC44 Animal as a supplement to the Miele and I have been very impressed with it. It is a hand cleaner although with wand and (small) power nozzle its is really more akin to a stick cleaner. I am inmpressed with its performance and build quality, and although not cheap by any means, it is proving to be good value. It comes with a second smaller power nozzle with is absolutly brilliant for stairs. I am not recommending this model to you (sounds like it is not what you need) only to indicate that the machine appears to be well designed and well made. It answers every deficiency of the Miele

I believe that Dyson cannisters in Australia have power nozzles and I would definatly go for a model with one if it were me, if they sold them here with PN I would probably have retired the Miele by now. But go along to a shop and see if you can try out both kinds first - its the only way to be sure of your choice.

Happy Vacuuming

Al
 
I have three friends with Dysons, I have repaired the machines for two of them. I am not impressed with them.
Things I don't like are: narrow diameter tubes (block easier); fiddly buttons to release attachments (they get grit in them, making them cranky to release); flimsy, brittle plastics which break easily; ugly,tacky design with gaudy colours; excessive prices.
I do like the bagless idea though.

One of the machines I know is an upright, about 2 years old - its on/off switch wouldn't stay on, when you took your finger off the button it would switch off again. Caused by dust in the switch. I fixed it. Its owners are happy with it.

Second machine, about 5 years old, never repaired, owners happy with it.

Third machine, about 6 or 7 years old (??) owner hates it, says it breaks all the time. Brittle plastics snap with mild abuse.

I have a couple of Mieles over 10 years old by now, they are great machines. I scrounged them from hard rubbish collections, they only had plug/cord damage. The Mieles rewind their cord pretty hard/fast, when the plug hits the body at the end of the rewind, it stops pretty hard and over time breaks the wire inside the plug. Symptom - machine appears dead and gets thrown out. Fitting a new $5 plug end gives a great vac a new lease on life.
My trick for longer life is to hold the plug in your hand when rewinding the cord - as it reaches the end of the rewind, slowly allow the plug to approach the machine - control it with your hand. No more violent sudden stops.
They are much less fragile than Dyson and in my limited comparisons, clean better too. Starting price is about $299 for Miele and about twice that for Dyson, isn't it?

I think you can get re-usable cloth bags for some Mieles, too.
 
Isn't this partly a choice between with bag or bagless?

Cleaning out a container of a bagless is a big no no for people with dustmite allergies. A vacuum with a bag is the only option then. Bagless is also a problem when you live in an apartment with no outside space to empty the container.

If you do have the possibility and don't have allergies, a bagless saves money, assuming they have the same price tag.
 
I haven't much experience with Dysons to really comment other than I am not a fan of bagless vacuums. I have a Miele and it's pretty good although the powerbrush isn't much of a deep cleaner and sucks at picking up dog hair on carpet. However they have a couple of power heads to choose from and I'm told the more expensive one is better for that.
Now for the worst of Miele.. is the price of the bags. They cost approximately $4 each which is insanity. So with 2 long haired shedding dogs a bag is filled in our house after about 2 uses.. I don't use the vac much for that very reason, in fact hardly at all anymore.. Thankfully I got it 2nd had for $75.
Mainly I use my vintage Electroluxes,, a model G and/or model 89. Both work just as well and bags are dirt cheap.
 
I don't know if they're available in Australia, but the Shark Navigator seems to be a pretty good competitor with the Dyson at like half the cost. It's bagless wth the same no loss of suction technology. They put the hepa filter in the exhaust flow where there's less risk of it getting clogged since the air passing through it is already pretty much clean. I would check it out. If something were to happen with the Kirby G4 I currently have, I'd get the Shark.
 
Dyson's internal filters always seem to get clogged requiring a trip to the repair shop to clean. Whenever I stop by our local repairshop there is always a line of Dyson's waiting for service. 80% of them just need that cyclone assembly cleaned out.

Louis is right about the bag vs bagless vacs. When you open the Dyson to empty it you always get a cloud of dust waffing out of the cylinder. You don't with Miele bags.
 
Allergy? What allergy?

"Cleaning out a container of a bagless is a big no no for people with dustmite allergies."

I can't figure out how you could even think such an absurd idea, foraloysius: don't you know that "Dyson uprights and cylinders are approved by the British Allergy Foundation"???

Are you saying that all those exquisite and delicious ladies and gentlemen of the British Allergy Foundation do not know enough about allergies???

I can hardly believe that the outstanding British Allergy Foundation do not now that bagless vacuum cleaners require emptying the dust container... well... unless Dyson intentionally didn't tell them...

http://content.dyson.co.uk/vacuums/allergy/
 
I LOVE my Miele!

I have a Capricorn, an S5 something, and it's the best vacuum I have ever had. Ever.

So quiet, so powerful, so thoughtfully designed. I have an electrobrush, 228, which is perfect for the mix of carpet here in the apartment. Living/dining/office is short, nearly industrial pile, and bedroom is higher pile plush.

If a person has allergies to dusts and pollens, as I do, they should completely avoid bagless vacuums from any maker.

I just do not care for the look of Dyson, at all. Creepy looking, in my eyes.

Yeah, Miele consumables are pricy, I won't deny that. However, if one looks around on the web, there are breaks, like free shipping deals after a certain dollar value. I have the HEPA filter, as well as the pre motor fiber filter, and between the two of them, NO "VACUUM" ODOR!

I guess that I am now a "true believer" Miele fan.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
Another positive I failed to mention about Mieles is that they are pretty quiet and what little noise they do make isn't whiny. Set on low they barely make any noise and you don't really need to set them any higher than that if you're just vacuuming up hard floors.
 
I have used dysons and would recommend the Miele. The dysons I have used have been loud, cheaply made, and dont deep clean well.
 
Miele

Morning Steve,

We've a Miele Revolution 5000. This has a 'proper' power head (with light) that agitates the carpet to release the grit which is much more effective than either a 'turbo' brush or a power brush alone.

You can feel the floor vibrate when you stand next to it.

It is fantastic to say the least, but from what I can see from the Miele.com.au website, it isn't available any longer as a model. The last model I saw that came with this power head was in David Jones - bronze in colour. If it has been discontinued, they may still have one. Worth seeking out.

If you have no preference between barrel or upright, then I'd be looking at the Miele uprights too. These have the same agitator action as the power head I mention above, a much larger dust bag and also get very good reviews. Additionally, they are actually less expensive than the equivalent barrel.

When it all comes down to it, it's user preference. I've never been a fan of Dyson. However, my mother went from a mid 1980's Hoover upright to a Dyson and loves it. Personally, I've proven to her that it doesn't get as much stuff out of the carpet as her Hoover did, but because she can 'see the dirt', she'll have none of it....

http://www.miele.com.au/au/domestic/products/floorcare_models_S_7210-39248.htm
 
Dyson

I had/have a Dyson and while I liked the instant gratification of seeing the collected dirt swirling around in the container, the semi annual ritual of tearing it apart and cleaning it inside and out was so gross. I finally replaced it as my daily driver with a bagged vacuum cleaner.

Malcolm
 
Thanks for all the tips

Thanks so much for the tips and info guys, appreciate all of it, I am kind of leaning towards the Miele as I don't really mind changing bags, in fact the Hoover Aura was a bagged cleaner, although I bought a cyclonic cup which clipped onto the side of the hose and worked the same as a bagless model with smaller dirt and dust going into the cup and larger items going into the bag.
I was kind of keen on the Dyson mainly because we have one at work and it gets used about 4 times per week and seems to keep on going and going.
I can get the Miele for around the $280 mark which is quite good value for them.
I would not rule out the Dyson, but at the moment the Miele is in front.
Thanks again for all the advice and tips.
Cheers.
Steve.
 
Substance over Hype

You won't live long enough to wear out a Miele. Regardless the brand I hope I never live long enough to use a bagless vacuum. They start out great and then it requires more cleaning and maintenance to maintain suction. Our church has the only Dyson I have ever used and there must be some out there better than the one at church or they'd be long out of business. Two of my daughters have Dyson Uprights. Sara's plugs almost every other day and she had to unplug a small hose that isn't fully accessible, Shana has taken hers in several times and waiting a long time for a plastic hose part to be replaced. I recently sold my daily driver Electrolux and switched completely to a Miele Solarius. I also have a Miele Capricorn but the Solarius is lighter and easier to get around things with it. This past week the Miele is out and plugged in and I am sucking up at least 100 wasps, flies and spiders during the day as they are heading in now that it freezes at night.

mixfinder++10-13-2012-01-35-3.jpg
 
Having worked on both makes I would not buy either! As stated, Dysons are flimsy, difficult to work on and constructed so that you are likely to break bits during a repair. When replacing mains flexes or On/Off switches on the uprights I would make sure I had the correct colour new button as there was a good chance the old one would break when removing it. They also had bits you could not dismantle that were hard to clean out. I used to give them a good blast with a compressed air gun.
The Mieles I worked on were mostly cylinder types, especially the Cat & Dog models. You expect Miele to be of superior construction given their price but these did not seem anything special, certainly nothing like the quality of my mothers late '50s Kerstar machine. My favourite make were Panasonic, sturdy and well designed.
 
Ducted!

Ducted Vacuum is the PERFECT answer. Air is exhausted outdoors, perfect for allergies people. Bag design, but good suction, if you get the right unit.

That, or Miele. We have a Cat "N" Dog 2000 or something (1 year old) that has plenty of attachtments, suction and plenty of suction "power" settings. It also has an indicator to tell you when to replace the bag (Red tape scale, like on some old Boeing 747's)
 
Cyclonic Action . . .

Dyson has bragged incessantly about their cyclonic action as if they invented it. They did not, both Compact (became TriStar in the '80s) and Filter Queen have been using cyclonic action for well over 50 years in high quality, metal vacuums that put Dyson's crappy plastics to shame.
 
My vote goes for the Miele by far.I had a Dyson and hated it and I have hated every bag less vacuum sense, every time I go to my Vacuum shop there is about 40 Dyson's waiting to be fixed.I have a Riccar Radiance and a Cirrus Pet Edition which is a great vacuum.I am having a Drain Vac installed at the farm next month.
 
BTW, our Miele is 11 years old and still going strong! The only repair we have ever made to it was a hose coupler which broke when the machine fell down the stairs a few years ago. I fixed it myself for $10.00 with a part I got from our local Miele dealer.

When we first got the Miele I was also amazed at how quiet it is. You can hear the grit from the floor going up the hose, it's that quiet.

As for Miele's being expensive, we probably would have bought 3 or 4 other vacs in the 11 years we owned the Miele. So we think we are already money ahead.
 
Miele Cylinder/Canister all the way - once tried you will never go back. the Rolls Royce of vacuum cleaners.
 
I'ev got a Miele S4582 H.E.P.A. - with all the attachments. It's reasonable on built quality and has good variable suction, but overall performance is nothing to rave about. The turbo brush is as anemic as with most other types of modern vacs. I don't recall what I spent on it anymore, but it was probably too much. The Dyson, in my view, is priced totally over the top for what it is and it's aesthetically offensive.

I get the best results on carpets from my Vacs AVC1 upright. They don't make those anymore either.

Tried a Kirby whilst I was up in Queensland a couple of months ago. Friend of mine was helping me renovate a rental property. It worked very well, fluffed up the carpet good and I liked the auto drive. It's still a handsome machine to boot. May consider buying one second hand.

I miss the horse hair brushes, nylon hoses, polished stainless steel tubing and beater bars of yore. That's when quality was king and manufacturers took pride in their products. Now the only real difference between tol and bol is price and that's about it.
 
On ducted vacuums, I would if I could, but in my house that is not a viable solution. Should have put it in when I was building. Now a retro fit is too much trouble. A good central vac system for an average size home costs not much less than a tol vacuum cleaner anyway and with regular timber frame walls retro fitting should be no issue.
 
You wouldn't believe it but

We ended up with neither a Dyson nor a Miele, we ended up with a Vax Fusion bagless for $199.00.
The salesman at the Good guys demonstrated a Miele, a Dyson and this Vax model for usand the Vax outperformed both the Dyson and the Miele, the Dyson took the longest to pick up all the grit and sand from the carpet, the Miele was next best but the Vax sucked it up the fastest.
The Dyson was the noisiest machine, the Miele was lovely and quiet but so was the Vax it uses very similar technology to the Dyson but at a fraction of the cost.
I had a fair idea of what I wanted, but I was so heartened when the young salesman asked me all the right questions, how big is your house, what type of carpet do you have?, hard floors or tiles, and incredibly enough he told us that given what we told him, we would actually be foolish to spend so much money on a Dyson in particular and with the Miele there is the ongoing cost of bags, and of course the other factor was my sister, who was drooling over the Vax, so we went with it.
Got it home and tried it out and I couldn't believe how much extra dirt it picked up given that I had vacuumed only yesterday with the very old L.G. (which had some time ago been retired to garage duty.
Very happy with our purchase but thank you all so very much again for all you tips and advice.
 
Industrial cyclones-the ones most vacuum cleaners are based upon-have been with us for 100 years.They were used in factories in dust shaving collection systems for woodworking shops-and some metal working places had them-for the sanding-sandblasting operations-both to recover the metal dust for recycling-and for air blast operations-the abrasives.We have a cyclone on our sandblaster in our shop-does good in cleaning some transmitter parts!And I am sure you have seen the giant cyclone unit behind or on the roof of some plants.
In general I HATE bagless central units-they can be a pain to empty-the bags ones are cleaner and easier to empty-the cost of bags doesn't bother me.A bag in one of those last for a few to several months.and I have found the performance of a portable vacuum to be still better than a central one-if you can use just the hose to the central unit-no question-but if the unit has to pull thru all of the plumbing and long hose-then the efficiency goes way down.
 

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